Time to Start Planning Your Cuban Vacation, Pope Criticized, Terrorists Thwarted in Belgium: P.M. Links

• 

  Alfredo Borba

  The U.S. will ease Cuban travel restrictions beginning Friday.

• Pope Francis is receiving a lot of criticism for his comments on the Charlie Hebdo attacks. According to the pope, people should expect consequences for insulting Muslims. 
• Vox's culture editor claims Selma wasn't nominated for more Oscars because the judges are old white guys.
• Raif Badawi, the blogger facing persecution by the Saudi government, is set to receive 50 more lashes on Friday.
• Duke University had planned to allow Muslim students to conduct a prayer call from within its chapel. That decision was reversed due to complaints.
• The Belgian police prevented a terrorist attack. ISIS is suspected.
• Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis opened up about her recent health problems and regrets about not being able to run for mayor.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The U.S. will ease Cuban travel restrictions beginning Friday.

Communist Florida by Monday.

[db]

I predict a rash of "Florida Man" headlines emanating from Havana.

[gaoxiaen]

That guy's always in trouble.

[mr lizard]

We are all Florida Man

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Only a couple of minutes late.

I guess they passed the dutchie already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFtLONl4cNc

And...YES I'VE BEEN WAITING TO USE THIS!

[Medical Physics Guy]

Robby didn't quite RTFA on this one. Tourist travel is still banned by law.

[Sal Paradise]

Well, the only thing keeping Cuba down was the evil American embargo. They'll turn into a prosperous Socialist Utopia now, right?

[Injun, as in from India]

Wealthy activist Tom Steyer says 'I will decide soon' on Senate run

I would support Tom Steyer if he exhaled Nitrogen instead of CO2.

But the sanctimonious SOB pollutes our air instead with his mere existence.

So no vote for you, evil member of the 1% !!

[Fist of Etiquette]

At least when he posts links they work. (I assume.)

[Injun, as in from India]

Why the heck did that happen? Trying again...

Wealthy activist Tom Steyer says 'I will decide soon' on Senate run

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Belgian police prevented a terrorist attack.

Destroyed all parody magazines?

[Aloysious]

Brought Hercule Poirot back from the dead to thwart villainy.

[lap83]

+1 little grey cells

[Steve G]

I prevented a terrorist attack today.

Go ahead prove me wrong!

[C. Anacreon]

Lisa, I'd like to buy your rock.

[Sevo]

I don't see any elephants around here!

[Jerryskids]

The Belgian police prevented a terrorist attack. ISIS is suspected.

Don't the prevented terrorist attacks around here usually involve the FBI encouraging, funding and instructing the terrorists?

[gaoxiaen]

It's Belgium. They just invite them in and let them do their own legwork.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis opened up about her recent health problems and regrets about not being able to run for mayor.

That's where the real money is.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Look, if the dead of Chicago can vote, surely the sick can run for mayor.

[Andrew S.]

Lewis might've been the most odious person to ever serve as a politician in Chicago. I think that's an accomplishment.

[R C Dean]

She is truly a rancid bucket of lard, no mistake.

[Crusty Juggler]

I only see inner beauty and let me tell you on the inside she looks like a kate upton-unicorn wrapped in a fresh rainbow.

[db]

So, she's a hollow shell stretched around a complete void of nonexistence?

[Andrew S.]

No, on the inside she looks pretty much exactly like she does on the outside.

[gaoxiaen]

On the outside she looks and smells like a can of surstromming.

[Injun, as in from India]

Duke University had planned to allow Muslim students to conduct a prayer call from within its chapel. That decision was reversed due tocomplaints.

Creeping Sharia.

[R C Dean]

There is the racket, for one.

And there is the fact that, once they open up their chapel for use of another religion, they open it up for use by any and every other religion.

I suspect its more the latter than "complaints".

[Medical Physics Guy]

Issuing a call for prayer? I hope someone videos the campus quad when everyone suddenly hears a loud voice calling "Allahu Akbar".

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The Mosque Clock is still one of my favorite gifts to give.

[Stormy Dragon]

There is the racket, for one.

Yeah, and I'm sure there's not a single church in Durham that loudly rings bells every Sunday morning, because this is totally about the noise and has absolutely nothing to do with antipathy toward muslims.

[JEP]

It can actually be quite beautiful. Apparently it takes some practice.

It does kind of force you to follow their schedule though. Good luck sleeping in.

I'm sure someone's written a "call to prayer" app.

[Stormy Dragon]

Note the call to prayer in question was to occur once a week on Friday AFTERNOON. The "how will people sleep" thing is a red herring; this is totally about the "OMG, CHARONA LER!" crowd.

[Enough About Palin]

Why do you hate third-shift workers, Stormy?

[Stormy Dragon]

They only do stuff when I'm unconcious. They're obviously trying to hide what they're up to from me.

[HeteroPatriarch]

Third-shift workers who are also Duke students?

[rts]

A headline nobody wants to ever read...

Improperly cleaned endoscopes used in 10,000 procedures, says Northern Health

[PapayaSF]

Just a little random experiment in fecal transplants.

[C. Anacreon]

Rectum? Hell, it nearly killed 'em!

[Enough About Palin]

A colleague had an endoscopy go bad (torn colon). Spent weeks in the hospital and almost died. There are better and safer detection methods these days.

[BladeDoc]

This is not true. The two non-invasive methods for colon screening (CT colonoscopy and capsule endoscopy) so far are not nearly as accurate as direct colonoscopy furthermore if they do detect something you then have to go get a "real" one anyway. So far the risk/benefit ratio and the cost/benefit ratio still favors direct colonoscopy unless the individual has specific contraindications to sedation or a history of complex endoscopy.

[HeteroPatriarch]

Damn private corporation corner-cutting! This is why we need single payer! Oh, wait.

[Fist of Etiquette]

According to the pope, people should expect consequences for insulting Muslims.

Muslims lack an understanding of basic right and wrong, apparently.

[Almanian!]

Well, they are Muslims....

/cheap shot

[LynchPin1477]

The Pope is obviously a secret Muslim.

[R C Dean]

I wonder what his thoughts are on Muslims insulting others?

Because they do. A lot.

Does he think Muslims should refrain from insulting Christians?

Does he think anyone should be free to insult others, unless the target of their insult has a history of irrational violence?

Or does he think that people who exhibit a propensity for barbarous savagery simply have more rights than more peaceful sorts?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

No to all RC. Because we're white, powerful and cause (d) a lot of heartache in the world since a long time and because.

[BardMetal]

Yep in the eyes of the left the white man will always been seen as the evil oppressor.

[Overt]

Was he saying "Don't do this because the Muslims will be insulted" Or did he say "If you are going to do this, expect those crazies to punch you."

I guess what I'm asking was whether he was saying it was wrong or just foolish.

[Slammer]

His mom wears army boots.

[Enough About Palin]

He said he'd punch you if he heard yoiu say that.

[Slammer]

I hope he reads the HyR comments daily.

[Old Man With Candy]

C'mon, Frankie, give me your best shot!

[BigT]

I agree with the late, great Raoul Duke: Fuck the Pope!

[Winston]

Selma's Oscar snub has more to do with the lack of screeners and Paramount's behavior.

[Steve G]

The racial scorekeeping every Oscars/Golden Globes has long since become tiresome

[R C Dean]

The racial scorekeeping every Oscars/Golden Globes has long since become tiresome

[C. Anacreon]

Plus, I already have to hear from a million other sources that as a white heterosexual male I am the worst person in the universe and the source of all the world's problems. I'm not sure I need to heap honors on a movie regardless of its quality just because it is 'courageous' enough to point this out to me one more time.

[BardMetal]

Everytime I hear someone talk like that I always ask them to replace the word white/male/western civilization/etc with the word Jew, and then tell me who they sound like.

It usually shuts them up, at least the more intelligent ones.

[Mad Scientist]

The white, male Jews are the worst of all.

[Tonio]

Thank you.

[Tonio]

That was for RC, but also applies to CA.

I've never been a fan of awards ceremonies. There, I said it.

[Sevo]

"I've never been a fan of awards ceremonies. There, I said it."

Televised annual sales meeting; patting each other on the back, expecting a return next year.
All from people who spend their career pretending to be someone else.

[CE]

Handing out awards that are entirely subjective. Notice there is no Academy award for "highest box office" or "highest return on producer investment".

[Pro Libertate]

I haven't watched one at all in thirty years.

[Medical Physics Guy]

I say convert the Oscar process to a progressive stack

[Rhywun]

Who's the token gay this year?

[Steve G]

"Emergency" You keep using that word?

[Crusty Juggler]

For my money James Franco and Anne Hathaway killed it as oscar hosts. Maybe not the best hosts of all time, but definitely not not the best of all time.

[rts]

Target to close all 133 Canadian stores, gets CCAA protection

Sucks. I kind of liked the store that opened near me.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They completely messed up.

Here the shelves were half empty. It all felt so, er, communisty.

[wadair]

Maybe they'd be more optimistic if the shelves were half full.

[Injun, as in from India]

Will the left break down in tears if Wal-mart were to take over those stores?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

There are already plenty of Wal-Marts.

There's gotta be another corporation proggies hate that can come in, no?

[Injun, as in from India]

A chain of gun superstores, perhaps?

[rts]

I wish.

[LynchPin1477]

Hobby Lobby!

[SoCal Deathmarch]

Koch Dollar Stores

Sit back and watch heads explode.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Koch-Palin Depot.

[jesse.in.mb]

SoCal Deathmarch

Dare I ask what part of SoCal?

[SoCal Deathmarch]

The poorest part. Imperial County. El Centro to be specific.

[CE]

The Bullet Train will fix that, and make everyone rich.

[BigT]

Cabella's

[db]

Eh, you've still got Canadian Tire.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

ALWAYS!

I still don't understand the concept - besides finding someone to help you and fake dollars with laughing Scotsmen on them - but man it's a fun place to walk into.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The French-Canadians were probably the only ones to correctly pronounce the stores' name.

[Almanian!]

"poutine"?

Works for me

[jesse.in.mb]

"poutine"

WANT!

[Almanian!]

I'm sure Target will hear from Steven Abootman aboot this, buddy!

[BoscoH]

They'll also hear from Dick Assman.

[Cytotoxic]

As long as I have THE GREAT CANADIAN SUPERSTORE to shop at all is well.

[Pro Libertate]

Why wouldn't Target work in Canada? Crazy Canadian regulations?

[Cytotoxic]

No. They just sucked. Bad locations, terrible stocking. It wasn't just initial hiccups it went on and on.

[rts]

I've heard that "terrible stocking" and "half-empty shelves" quite a bit, but honestly the one near me never had those problems (or maybe it was just I never noticed stuff missing that I didn't want).

[Pro Libertate]

Weird. Target seems quite well managed here in the U.S. I wonder what went wrong?

[rts]

They forgot to put a little maple leaf in their logo.

[CE]

Target Canada should have stocked more flannel and beer.

[Injun, as in from India]

Raif Badawi, the blogger facing persecution by the Saudi government, is set to receive 50 more lashes on Friday.

The quickest way for Islam to win more converts is to replace lashing by whip with spanking by a naughty nurse.

[jesse.in.mb]

Would paddling by a sexy nun be more or less transgressive in an Islamic country?

[db]

Folks might develop a habit of breaking the law.

[jesse.in.mb]

What if 2% of the paddlings were done by Ron Jeremy dressed in a sexy nun outfit paddling you. Would that be enough to discourage seeking out the punishment?

[db]

Me, personally, or in the sense of the general population?

[jesse.in.mb]

I know you personally would consider it a win either way. I mean the general population.

[Slammer]

General population or prison 'general population'?

[Tonio]

Sometimes, Jesse, you're more disturbing than Sug.

[jesse.in.mb]

I blame my exposure to Warring States era Chinese philosophy. There's a lot in there about ruining other people's day.

[Raven Nation]

More or less than Warring States era Japanese philosophy?

[db]

So, not.to get off topic, but is anyone going to comment on my.original pun?

[Slammer]

Get thee to a punnery

[C. Anacreon]

you might be habit-forming

[Injun, as in from India]

It would be less transgressive if the nun lets the man breastfeed, thereby establishing a mother-son relationship.

[Adans smith]

Do you have a video?

[R C Dean]

Raif Badawi, the blogger facing persecution by the Saudi government, is set to receive 50 more lashes on Friday.

According to the pope, people should expect consequences for insulting Muslims.

[Winston]

So is Ron Paul's goal to prove the neocons are right?

[Cytotoxic]

Yes. He has adeptly proven that he is every bit as loony and America-hating as his critics claim.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Vox's culture editor claims Selma wasn't nominated for more Oscars because the judges are old white guys.

You don't get to stay culture editor without declaring things like this, I imagine.

[PapayaSF]

Yeah, the Academy was much less white back when Sidney Poitier got his Oscar.

[Overt]

What's funny is his "#2" reason is way, way, way more persuasive as to why the movie got snubbed- Paramount sent screener DVDs out late to academy members and didn't send screeners to all the other film festival managers. As a result, Academy judges never got buzz from the film festivals and may not have seen the movie arive until after they made their decision.

But I guess it's their fault for not just "knowing" about the movie enough to decide on nominating despite the lack of publicity. Racists

[Whahappan?]

Perhaps this was done on purpose so they could cry "racism" when it was "snubbed?" Or am I seeing conspiracies where none exist?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Duke University had planned to allow Muslim students to conduct a prayer call from within its chapel.

Allah wouldn't accept the charges from there, anyway.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

The call's coming from inside the chapel!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

http://howiecarrshow.com/you-w.....-sent-out/

I'm starting to get the distinct feeling if I, a slender white man with a penchant for anise candy, were dying in the street these assholes wouldn't care.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

By the way, the guy in the video is epic.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

"We must remember, Ferguson is not a faraway Southern city."

Yeah, it's a sort-of-faraway Midwestern city.

[tarran]

The sad thing is Boston is far more racist than most Bostonians are willing to admit. But, these guys made themselves no friends. None of the people who were cursing them are going to turn around and say, "you know, these people are right, I should be nicer to black people". They literally shot themselves in the foot, and will go to bed feeling like heroes because they were wounded in battle. That their wounds were entirely self-inflicted will go entirely over their heads. That they made retrograde progress in the battle for hearts and minds will escape them entirely.

[Andrew S.]

I've lived all kinds of places and traveled to all kinds of places. Boston is easily the most racist American city I've ever been to.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

My friend from Boston admits this and went as far as to say if they didn't have all those world class universities to elevate the intelligence factor it would be one ugly place.

[CE]

I think they contribute to that.

[Pro Libertate]

Ditto.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

The whole "let's march on freeways and inconvenience people" mystifies me. It's like they're so dedicated to being confrontational they don't question whether it's the right way to get the results they want. The people stuck waiting for them probably weren't thinking the police needed to be reined in, they were thinking a little tear gas and pepper spray would do nicely.

[Andrew S.]

Amongst other idiocies, that shit pisses me off because it's going to set back the cause of police accountability far more than 1000 copsucking politicians could ever do.

[Cytotoxic]

This.

[Juice]

"We must remember, Ferguson is not a faraway Southern city."

Right. It's a faraway Midwestern city.

[Irish]

"The Belgian police prevented a terrorist attack. ISIS is suspected."

How convenient. I didn't know ISIS is how you spell C-I-A.

When, oh when will America stop running false flag operations on foreign soil? /The Ron Paul Institute

[Almanian!]

*whispers*

Heh - this is exactly what the Bilderbergs, Masons and Illuminati WANT you to think!

*looks around arefully - adjust tinfoil - retreats to shadows*

[Adans smith]

it's the Harkonnen ,they'er always up to something

[Calidissident]

"Bilderbergs, Masons and Illuminati"

It would have been a lot more concise if you had just said "Jews"

[BardMetal]

Theres a good percentage of people in the middle east that actually would believe that.

[Almanian!]

+3 into 1

[Cytotoxic]

Don't drag porno into this.

[Cytotoxic]

Foil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urglg3WimHA

[trshmnster the terrible]

They hide listening devices in our cheese!

[LynchPin1477]

Washington teen killed by punch to face agreed to be hit as way to 'resolve' car crash

They actually want to charge the kid with 2nd degree manslaughter.

[Fist of Etiquette]

They want a plea, I'm sure. I doubt they think they can let him go without some punishment.

[LynchPin1477]

Killing his friend is obviously not punishment. Punishment can only be handed down by the State.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

People can be so weirdly fragile.

[Slammer]

Did he say anything about the Pope's mother?

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Dammit, now I want to see a Rocky training montage featuring the Pope.

[Slammer]

Only if it includes Rocky IV, too

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

"I must bless you."

[db]

Only if the Pope is Drago

[R C Dean]

The statute:

(1) A person is guilty of manslaughter in the second degree when, with criminal negligence, he or she causes the death of another person.

Leaving aside mens rea, I'm not sure that punching someone in the face, with their consent, is criminal negligence.

[Acosmist]

You can't consent to being killed.

[kinnath]

People consent to high-risk activities every day.

[LynchPin1477]

You can consent to being killed (assisted suicide) but that isn't the point. The point is that this was an accident. There was no intent, and a reasonable person could not have known that one punch to the face carried a significant risk of death. It doesn't meet the standard for criminal negligence or recklessness, which is required for 2nd degree manslaughter.

[C. Anacreon]

Would all be forgiven if the guy just says, "I guess I didn't know my own strength"?

[CE]

(1)(a) Unless they're a cop.

[OldMexican]

Re: LynchPin1477,

They actually want to charge the kid with 2nd degree manslaughter.

"Oh, yeah? Well, mister, if someone told you to go jump into a precipice...

... would you deprive me of that pleasure? Huh?"

[Pathogen]

Next time, he'll pay a cop to do it... fuckin cheap-skate

[Pro Libertate]

When I go to Havana, how do you say, "banana daiquiri?"

[jesse.in.mb]

chupa me verga, cerdo comunista!

or something like that. My Spanish is reaaaaaaly rusty.

[Tonio]

+1 Hungarian Phrase Book

[OldMexican]

Re: jesse.in.mb,

The actual sentence should read "?Ch?pame la verga, cerdo comunista!"

I think you tried to write: "Chupa mi verga" which is pretty much the same.

[jesse.in.mb]

"Chupa mi verga"

There we go.

Three years in high school and I haven't had a conversation primarily in Spanish since 2004. Now I just use it to make people who are talking about me in Spanish uncomfortable.

[db]

I thought is was "chupa mi cabra"

[trshmnster the terrible]

You want me to milk your werewolf?

[Steve G]

I believe it's pronounced "blowjob"

[R C Dean]

Viva Fidel!

[Pro Libertate]

I'm mildly surprised that no one appears to know what movie I'm referencing.

[kinnath]

google knows everything.

[C. Anacreon]

Is it Selma? I didn't see it.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Did we break your heart, Pro L?

[Pro Libertate]

Indeed you did. Here, why don't you go fishing?

[Trouser-Pod]

Did they break your heart, Pro L?

[Trouser-Pod]

Shit. Didn't refresh. Never mind!

[gaoxiaen]

Well, are you going to tell us or do we have to guess? Scarface?

[Pro Libertate]

Godfather II. The answer is, "Banana daiquiri."

[PapayaSF]

Fuck the Pope and fuck Karen Lewis.

That is all. I'm in a bad mood.

[Andrew S.]

I wouldn't do either of those things. Even with Warty's dick.

[Injun, as in from India]

What if they f*** each other?

[Andrew S.]

And now I'm going to have nightmares for a week. Thanks a lot.

[Tonio]

H&R comments are not for the faint of heart, Andy.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

With Warty's dick, or without?

[PapayaSF]

Quick, send Al Qaeda the address.

[jesse.in.mb]

Warty's dick has a 73% chance of causing cancer, an 82% chance of implanting chest-bursters, and a 100% chance of rape.

Are you SURE You wouldn't fuck either of them with Warty's dick?

[Medical Physics Guy]

Anyone see the pics from the Auto Show? The new Ford GT looks terrific.

[Medical Physics Guy]

sorry here's a link

[R C Dean]

Schweet.

[db]

Question: are you a real radiologist? How hard do you think it would be to change careers from engineering?

[Medical Physics Guy]

Medical physics is a field of physicists. MRI is tricky and often requires onsite physicists. Especially for those involved in developing or experimenting with new MRI techniques which is more what I do. But it's not just MRI there's also PET, ultrasound, CT, they all need physicists.

[db]

Ah. My bad, a misunderstanding of terms.

[Clich? Bandit]

PETs use anti-matter. I think that is very cool.

[Medical Physics Guy]

Sadly PET is underutilised due to completely baseless fears about the radiation. It's a great technique and about as dangerous as a fluffy kitten these days.

[db]

PET was used by my Mom's cancer doctors extensively and to great effect in finding and treating her disease. It's wondrous stuff.

[db]

Plus, you get to play with frickin' positrons.

[Pro Libertate]

Ra-di-a-tion. Yes, indeed. You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it's bad for you. Pernicious nonsense. Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too.

[Cytotoxic]

Radiation is good for you in low doses.

[Pro Libertate]

Especially positronic radiation. Nothing better for you than antimatter.

[gaoxiaen]

My favorite is Fiesta ware.

http://www.periodictable.com/I.....index.html

[db]

So as a physicist in a medical field, what's your opinion of the people on the medical side? Would an engineer fit in? I would lean toward the radiological side because of my technical background and because I don't want to have to spend a lot of time dealing with people's innards directly.

[C. Anacreon]

Do be aware that once you are well into a radiology residency, you can avoid blood, innards, vomit, snot etc, but for about 3-4 years prior to that (including the last couple years of medical school and the 'intern' year (first year out of med school) you will be dealing with such effluvia on a daily basis.

I can't really answer the engineering/physics part so well, but I was in residency, back in the bad old days when a work week could exceed 120 hours. They've now restricted work hours to no more than 24 in a row or 60 in a week, which sounds like you should be able to do standing on your head by comparison.

[Stickler Meeseeks]

"Duke University had planned to allow Muslim students to conduct a prayer call from within its chapel. That decision was reversed due to complaints."

Clearly the complainers are racist and we should expect justifiable blow back.

[OldMexican]

"Allahu-Akbar!"
[Crickets]

"Our father, who art in Heav..."
Expelled!

[PapayaSF]

I think the apparent hypocrisy is explained by the punching up/punching down principle, which now seems to be the ne plus ultra of social rules.

[Calidissident]

When has Duke expelled anyone for reciting the Lord's Prayer? Did I miss that, or this is just the latest War on Christianity meme?

[OldMexican]

Re: Calidissident,

Next time, I will write "Off with his head!" just so you get the joke.

[Cytotoxic]

Faux polar bear figures

http://business.financialpost......ederated=1

It turns out that the population models used by the U.S. to list polar bears as "threatened" in 2008, developed with strong input from long-standing PBSG member Steven Amstrup, were heavily criticized by IUCN modelling experts. The PBSG has been told that Amstrup's model results will not be accepted as support for the next IUCN Red List assessment. In addition, all sea ice predictive models are now acknowledged to be unreliable over future 10-20 year periods.

It appears that in an effort to ensure a desired result for the 2015 IUCN Red List assessment, data utilized for the Southern Beaufort polar bear study was cherry-picked to create an anomalously low population estimate and an exaggerated declining trend. In short, prominent PBSG biologists seem determined to keep polar bears listed as "vulnerable" to extinction (IUCN-equivalent of "threatened") at all costs.

[R C Dean]

Science!

[PapayaSF]

Next we'll find out they actually all weren't raped for hours on broken glass by the Koch brothers.

[Cytotoxic]

Grab its motherfucking paw.

[PapayaSF]

+1

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Uh, you first.

[Slammer]

+1 massive BP cuff

[Cytotoxic]

So cuddly!

[Adans smith]

It's worse,they drink Coke a cola

[Pathogen]

http://polarbearscience.com/20.....ied-guess/

[Cytotoxic]

Fire them all.

[OldMexican]

Vox's culture editor claims Selma wasn't nominated for more Oscars because the judges are old white guys.

"We was deprived!"

Somehow I can't see how is it that one has a right to an Oscar nomination...

[Irish]

Karen Lewis looks like Winston Churchill if he were dropped on his head as a child.

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sit.....968185.jpg

http://a3.files.biography.com/.....QxMzg3.jpg

Don't deny it.

[PapayaSF]

I'm thinking more Nate Griffin.

[C. Anacreon]

I was thinking Medusa needs to go on a diet.

[Medical Physics Guy]

My wife's friend says he thinks all babies look like Winston Churchill

[CE]

How much did she make on the Internet last month?

[lap83]

yikes

[lap83]

also, ""I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.""

[Cytotoxic]

I am surprised and disappointed that Reason hasn't mentioned the Swiss central bank's abandonment of the Euro-Franc peg. This is a big deal, and a huge boon to the people of Switzerland. The central bank has been sacrificing them for the earnings of exporters.

http://business.financialpost......ederated=1

[R C Dean]

I see the franc bounced 30% today.

Its a mixed bag for the Swiss. Makes their exports cheaper, but makes their imports more expensive.

[R C Dean]

err, switch "cheaper" and "more expensive".

[db]

Yeah, and it fucks Swiss exporters with a rusty chainsaw.

[Cytotoxic]

They were essentially being subsidized by the Central Bank, who were offsetting it by importing Euro trash inflation. It's not all bad for exporters. Now they can import equipment for cheap.

[LynchPin1477]

What exactly does Switzerland export? Other than Swiss Servator.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Chocolate? Watches? Firearms?

[C. Anacreon]

I believe they do a brisk business in exporting holes for use in cheese.

[gaoxiaen]

Mercenaries for the Vatican.

[db]

ABB, for instance, makes damn near everything. Of course as a global powerhouse (pun intended) they do a lot of manufacturing in foreign countries too.

[robc]

Chocolate, coo-coo clocks, etc.

[gaoxiaen]

Long ago, they did a brisk business in mail-order LSD-25.

[Adans smith]

Blonde snow bunnies?

[robc]

Austria-Australia, same thing.

[Pro Libertate]

I knew Hitler was an Aussie. It explains so much. Too much, really.

[Slammer]

Darkspace?

Bolzer?

Celtic Frost?

[BardMetal]

Eluveitie?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

NEUTRALITY is their main export.

[Stormy Dragon]

What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?

[Pro Libertate]

Very tiny nuclear weapons embedded in clocks with extinct birds.

[LynchPin1477]

They need an economist to explain it to them first. Don't you get how this works?

[Medical Physics Guy]

Oh great. A Big Mac meal already cost something on the order of 13 dollars last time I checked.

[Cytotoxic]

Now it will be radically cheaper.

[Clich? Bandit]

The worst thing they did in the last 50 years was make that peg in 2011...I lost a shitload of money when they did that.

[Cytotoxic]

Dumping the gold standard in 1999 was the real worst thing they did. I'd like to think the recent referendum attempt to reimpose a (heavily flawed) GS was at least a little responsible for this shift to sanity.

[Clich? Bandit]

good point...didn't think about that but this is kind of a compromise to those folks who voted for the GS.

[Andrew S.]

Via Balko, the police in Albuquerque are taking revenge on the prosecutor for charging those cops with murder.

Quelle surprise.

[Matrix]

Well, they are taking a cue from our president. Act like petulant children when you don't get your way.

[mr lizard]

Me thinks they are getting a bit ambitious over there. Slipping your leash like that will get you hunted down like a rabid dog.

[Brett L]

Were I the DA, I'd call that city attorney and let her know that next time that shit happens, she'll be so busy defending cops from my office it will be ten years before she has time to take another vacation.

[Almanian!]

Man, we could really use a President like George Washington again...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7iVsdRbhnc

/...he's coming, he's coming, he's coming...

[LynchPin1477]

Old but still awesome.

[widget]

George Washington would still be alive today if the 'doctors' hadn't bled him death.

http://www.mountvernon.org/res.....ashington/

[MJGreen]

An idiot substitute teacher showed the horror movie ABCs of Death to five Spanish classes, and has now been convicted of four felonies.

Naturally, a lot of progressives I know online are aghast that a person could be convicted of a felony for such an offense. If over-criminalization is a problem, it's only because of uptight conservatives.

[Irish]

Everyone knows you should only be found guilty of felonies for important things, like writing a blog post that the local constabulary concludes is racist.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

"Testimony established that she was hired as a long-term substitute teacher in the Spanish-language class despite not speaking Spanish."

Que?!

[Matrix]

Government at work

[CE]

Donde esta la biblioteca?

[Matrix]

I've seen it. It has some interesting moments, but it certainly is not appropriate for a classroom setting? Any kind of conviction or punishment beyond getting fired is too much.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

They should sentence her to learn Spanish.

[flye]

Make her choose her sentence in Spanish with no help:

1) veintidos semanas
2) seis mil horas
3) trece quincenas

[MJGreen]

I worked with the film when it was being finished and was pretty turned off by a lot of it - it can be pretty gross, which is what some people like - but these are teenagers. It's not like they're scarred for life. The woman's excuse is ridiculous, but so is anything more than a dismissal.

[Carl ?s the level]

I eagerly await when the NYT runs a sympathetic portrait of a white activist who wants to limit white adoptions by Koreans*.

This woman sounds really fun:

"You need parents who can talk about white privilege, who can say: 'You might experience some of this. I'm sorry. We are in this together.'?"

In college, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Klunder found a group of like-minded friends and joined the multicultural student coalition. After receiving a master's degree in social work, she took a job at Macalester College in Minnesota, advising minority and feminist groups and working on the school's response to sexual assault. Her immersion in those issues served only to make fights with her parents more disheartening. "I knew that I was the only person of color in their life, and it was too easy for them to invalidate my point of view as another 'anger issue.'?" At some point, she said, "I felt hopeless to create change in my adoptive family."

Eight years ago, she stopped talking to them, though she says she hopes that will change one day.

*Not that, in 2015, there are likely to be many in Korea interested in transracial (or even transethnic) adoptions. I would love to be wrong, though.

[Irish]

This is the shittiest human being I have ever read about.

[C. Anacreon]

If only they'd let her stay in the orphanage, all would have been much better for her.

Damn them for raising her and putting her through college, they won't check their privilege!

Another great example of Borderline Personality Disorder.

[Carl ?s the level]

Foster home, but same diff.

[lap83]

Someone needs to tell her that her race has nothing to do with why no one likes her.

[Aloysious]

Eight years ago, she stopped talking to them, though she says she hopes that will change one day.

If the adoptive parents are lucky, it won't change.

[Rhywun]

Her immersion in those issues served only to make fights with her parents more disheartening. [...] Eight years ago, she stopped talking to them

So basically, her college education programmed her into a hateful bitch. Gosh that's surprising.

[flye]

"Hi mom. I learned today that you and dad are white devils who are destroying the planet. Send money."

[JEP]

To be fair, this is being taught to every college student, not just non-white or foreign students.

If you're parents are white, then you are privileged and by default, you are privileged as well.

[BardMetal]

How has this sort of racism become so common in virtually every university in America? It's so bizarre.

Spent 6 figures sending your kids to college so they can learn to be little racist nazis.

I just don't understand this time period we live in.

[Irish]

So this entire idea is blatantly racist, correct? It's basically centered around the idea that South Koreans belong in South Korea and that they are incapable of living among people with different racial backgrounds than themselves.

I believe the country of Liberia has a similar history.

[Carl ?s the level]

I'd say only about 90% blatantly racist. Given the right set of pernicious people in one's life, I'm sure transracial adoption can be tougher than intraracial adoption.

That calls for an approach and rhetoric much more measured than her and her peers', of course.

[Brett L]

"You mean my skin's gonna stay this color?!"

Turns out The Jerk is free on demand dor me right now.

[Steve G]

I can't stand these ungrateful pricks. I had a Korean roommate in college who was all bitter about his adopted parents. Didn't care about the opportunities that his adoption had opened up, just pissed at his 'foreign' mother.
*Disclaimer* My wife was adopted from Korea at 8 months. Fortunately she DGAF about her birth mother or her 'homeland', but is on a Korean Adoptee group on FB that is just full of whiny self-absorbed douchebags. If they only knew about what they escaped.

[Steve G]

That and contrast these adoptees with Russian ones. They are so mental/emotionally tramatized by their system they aren't even self-aware enough to feel sorry for themselves like the Koreans.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That woman shouldn't be allowed near children.

[Carl ?s the level]

Also, this was posted in the MR comments. I can't vouch for it, but it's interesting:

#4: Occasionally, a journalist gets taken in by some douchebag who becomes an "activist" and projects their mental issues on the rest of the world. A few points (and none of this is to deny the struggles and issues some adoptees have).

1) The welfare agencies that get painted as baby mills in the article provide homes for unwed mothers, orphanages, and homes for disabled children, in addition to adoption services. Because of these "activists", those agencies are overwhelmed and have their hands tied about what they can do with all these children.

2) Thousands of Korean children used to come to US families each year. They would stay with foster families for a few months, and usually arrive in the US by about 6 months old. Now, because of the political obstacles these "activists" have created, the few children that come are coming at maybe 2 years of age. So, they have learned a native language and bonded more deeply with a foster family. Thousands of children now don't have families and the ones that do have many more emotional issues to deal with because of these "activists".

[Carl ?s the level]

3) The Korean system is extremely well run. The babies who need homes are placed with caring foster mothers within days, and, before these numb-nuts started screwing things up with their PETA-style publicity stunts, were very efficiently and carefully placed with families in the US. Laura Klunder tattooed the number on her arm from her file at the welfare service. Oh my God, how dare they use an alpha-numeric filing system when they take in children who need homes! Those animals! Many people in this world have numbers tattooed on their arms because they went through hell. Her tattoo just id's her as a douchebag. I mean, the article itself notes that she lived with a foster family until she came to the US, and called her foster mom "omma". So, what is it Laura? Were you harmed because you were torn from the foster family you loved or were you harmed because you were treated like a number? It can't be both. Note that the author of the author tries to get dramatic points for both.

I only wish the best for other adoptees who have emotional problems related to their experiences. But, that woman is just a menace. When you go around smearing organizations that are doing good in this world, using inflammatory political rhetoric, and ruining thousands of lives, you give up your right to ask for empathy.

[BardMetal]

Someone needs to pose as a neo-nazi and e-mail that woman and thank her for doing her part to make sure no more dirty Koreans are allowed into the country, polluting our pure Nordic race.

I would love to see her response to something like that.

[Cytotoxic]

I watched part of some TV show called Scorpion a few nights ago. Terrible. Just awful. "Rich guy kills well-meaning politician who just wants to spread the water wealth around". The best part is when the nerd is hacking the highway cameras to look for a red camera. He says he's going to turn on a red filter to find it faster-and then explains why that would work as if that were remotely necessary. I guess they know their audience; better leave nothing unsaid.

Madame Secretary is also terrible. It's basically a an hour of TOP MEN/Hillary Clinton worship.

[OldMexican]

Watch Agent Carter. Much more entertaining.

[Enough About Palin]

I never watch network TV shows, but happened to get drawn into Jane the Virgin. It isn't great, but the woman playing Petra? Whooooooooa!

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm14.....m_phs_md_1

[OldMexican]

Agent Carter has the warheads that can fly circles around Petra.

[Brett L]

Agreed. If those are real, God loves her. Of not, her surgeon is an artist.

[flye]

Given that I'm in the middle of a bureaucratic end-of-year review process, I enjoyed this immensely:

"[Riker's Island candidates] are supposed to be rated from 1 to 5, but multiple officials, including the deputy commissioner in charge of hiring, were unable to tell investigators if 1 or 5 was the high score. The report found 90 percent of applicants were given a 3."

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The Belgian police prevented a terrorist attack. ISIS is suspected.

Must be all that, ah, Belgium neutrality. Wait, no. Oh, I know! False Flag!

/Ron Paul Institute

[Cytotoxic]

Rape culture Er I mean American Belgian Empire!

[Winston]

Still ticked about the Congo and Rwanda?

[OldMexican]

"They hate us for our pornographic cartoons!"

Yeah, much more convincing.

[Winston]

Well the Charlie Hebdo killers hated Charlie Hebdo for its cartoons.

[OldMexican]

Re: Winston,

Well the Charlie Hebdo killers hated Charlie Hebdo for its cartoons.

I thought the target was selected by Anwar al-Awlaki.

[Cytotoxic]

That fucker isn't selecting any targets anymore...

[Irish]

Dude, people were using the Danish cartoons to stir up riots in Egypt. Embassies in Lebanon were attacked over those cartoons.

People in the Middle East absolutely use Western statements and jokes about Mohammed to stir up animus and get people to engage in violence.

Plus, the actual shooters were French. They obviously would have known about Charlie Hebdo's anti-Mohammad cartoons, especially since they were firebombed years earlier. Why is this difficult for you to understand?

[Winston]

Why is this difficult for you to understand?

Old Mexican can't admit that Ron Paul is wrong in this instance. Otherwise the neocons have won. I mean he did say that badmouthing Russia is warmongering. If America's enemies are guilty of any of the horrible things the USG accuses them of doing then their whole philosophy collapses.

[Cytotoxic]

Yes, it is much more convincing because THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY FUCKING SAID.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

As I look up, I see that Irish has beat me to the punch with the same joke. Damn that immigrant Mick and his Paddy fingers.

A Puerto Rican and an Irishman competing for the same hard-scrabble work, at the behest of a Koch Industries-funded enterprise, no less -- I'm sure I've seen literature about that somewhere...

[widget]

TIT (sorry) is referring to this.

http://www.unz.com/proberts/charlie-hebdo/

It is a plausible inference that the ID left behind in the getaway car was the ID of the two Kouachi brothers, convenient patsies, later killed by police, and from whom we will never hear anything, and not the ID of the professionals who attacked Charlie Hebdo.

When I was in high school I bought a 1968 Camaro with a 3-speed manual transmission and a V-8 engine. With my own money. In retrospect I don't think my want-to-be hip parents should have let me.

Someone stole it from the high school parking lot. All young men are idiots. I dropped the keys on the seat and the thief dropped a corrected test paper with his name on the floor.

Occam's Razor.

[Irish]

This is the greatest comment ever:

"Incidentally, les agents de police were able to hear the kosher market terrorist beginning his Muslim prayers because he had "left the phone off the hook". Muslims must be kinda dumb?I guess that's why they invented algebra and adopted the Hindu-Arabic numeral system before Christian Europe."

You see, because unrelated Muslims did smart things in 1250, these particular Muslims could not have done anything stupid.

Furthermore, how is it stupid to recite your prayers when the cops can hear you? The guy knew he was going to die anyway, it's not like reciting his prayers had any real impact on the situation.

MUST BE A FALSE FLAG

[Doctor Whom]

There are no individuals, only identity categories. This is what many people actually believe.

[CE]

I believe you are micro-aggressing and othering us conspiracy theorists.

[SusanM]

corrected test paper with his name on the floor.

Is a The Big Lebowski reference gratuitous here?

[gaoxiaen]

They shouldn't have. What kind of parents would let their kid buy a car with such a lousy transmission?

[Winston]

Ebola is a CIA concoction along with AIDS. The Tuskegee Experiment and some of those secret 1950s and 1960s experiments are proof.

[Winston]

Why are the Charlie Hebdo killers patsies? Have we forgotten CIA mind control?

[Winston]

I think Charlie Hebdo and Paul Craig Roberts are CIA fronts. Makes perfect sense.

[Winston]

So what happened to Paul Craig Roberts? I get the feeling that he and Pat Buchanan are still Cold Warriors at heart except the enemy is no longer the USSR but the USG.

[widget]

Pat Buchanan != Paul Craig Robert.

[BardMetal]

Actually I think Pat Buchanan as urged the U.S. repeatedly to back off of Russia. He has criticized us expanding NATO into Russia's backyard.

[Winston]

Did you even read what I wrote?

[widget]

I did. You put Pat Buchanan in the tin-foil-hat category with PCR. You are mistaken.

[Winston]

No I am referring to how these guys went from Cold Warriors to apologists for Putin.

[widget]

Buchanan was of one many adviser to Presidents during the Cold War. He certainly stood at places with great influence. But he is, and always have been (AFIK), an isolationist. He was not successful. Alas?

[Winston]

Let's not forget that Daniel McAdams is an apologist for Russia, Chavez and Belarus. Do "anti-war" libertarians have to be anti-western communists?

[Cytotoxic]

Yes. That's all they are.

[RG]

JFC, they're screaming racism a year after 12 Years A Slave won three awards? Can someone Voxsplain how these morons function?

[Winston]

Let's be honest the big problem with Ron Paul and co. is that they have a Leninist philosophy of allying with disparate groups to oust the USG and then take over. And their foreign policy is that of revolutionary defeatism. Since the USG is bad and their foreign policy is bad then their enemies can't be guilty of anything because otherwise you are agreeing with the USG. Hence the apologia for foreign dictators, Islamic terrorists and paranoia about the CIA.

[CE]

To be fair, the paranoia about the CIA is justified.

[Winston]

I mean is Daniel McAdams even libertarian or does he just not like the US? I mean neo-Nazis, Communists and Islamists don't much like the US much either and you could find some libertarianish statements criticizing the US but these sure as hell not be libertarian.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Well, I'm back from the doctor. Did anything happen while I was out? Did His Holiness Pope Francis say anything new?...uh oh...

[Brett L]

Looks like God is picking Popes while drunk again.

[rosie.rwilliams]

my co-worker's mom makes $75 every hour on the laptop . She has been fired from work for ten months but last month her paycheck was $13904 just working on the laptop for a few hours. use this link...........
????? http://www.netcash50.com

[josefafmartin]

my co-worker's half-sister makes $69 /hr on the internet . She has been fired from work for ten months but last month her payment was $17800 just working on the internet for a few hours. try here......
????? http://www.cashbuzz80.com